As we’ve talked about barriers that some people have to face in their everyday life in the last few lessons, students from our 8th grade have had the opportunity to face some of these obstacles today.
They tried out a ramp, the stair lift and the elevator using a wheelchair themselves. Furthermore, they realised how awkward it feels to be pulled up the stairs by somebody while sitting in a wheelchair with their back to the staircase. At this point, heartfelt thanks to “Frohsinn” Nursery Home in Zwettl for lending us two wheelchairs.
Furthermore, while trying to do colour by numbers with tiny stickers, our pupils experienced how annoying it has to be for older people when their eyesight and their fine-motor skills are slowly deteriorating. Probably it should be mentioned that the youngsters wore gloves and glasses, which affected their vision and their sense of touch in doing so.
Finally, they had the chance to see how lost we are without visual and acoustic sensory input when exploring the school building blindfolded and wearing ear protection.
It was a great opportunity to link theory and practice and the experience will hopefully make it easier to slip into the shoes of anybody who does not conform to the (wherever defined) norm or needs help due to whatever impairment.
Mag. Theresa Hochhold